Automated test equipment (ATE) can be any testing assembly that performs a test on a device, semiconductor wafer or die, etc. ATE assemblies may be used to execute automated tests that quickly perform measurements and generate test results that can then be analyzed. An ATE assembly may be anything from a computer system coupled to a meter, to a complicated automated test assembly that may include a custom, dedicated computer control system and many different test instruments that are capable of automatically testing electronics parts and/or semiconductor. Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) is commonly used within the field of electrical chip manufacturing. ATE systems both reduce the amount of time spent on testing devices to ensure that the device functions as designed and serve as a diagnostic tool to determine the presence of faulty components within a given device before it reaches the consumer.
In testing devices or products, e.g. after production, it is crucial to achieve among others a high product quality, an estimation of the device or product performance, a feedback concerning the manufacturing process and finally a high customer contentment. Usually a plurality of tests is performed in order to ensure the correct function of a device or product. The plurality of tests may be compiled in a test flow wherein the test flow may be separated into different test groups which contain one or more tests for testing the device or product. For example, a semiconductor device may be tested with a test flow comprising contact tests, current-voltage tests, logic tests, speed tests, stress tests and functional tests. A test flow may assume a fixed sequence of test execution. In other words, tests may be performed in a certain temporal order or sequence.
Since testing a semiconductor device or a product, in general, may be quite expensive in terms of capital cost for required test equipment and cost in terms of required test time, testing of a device or product should be performed in an efficient way. Therefore, devices are often tested in parallel to reduce test time. On the other hand, an increased parallel testing often requires a high number of test resources of a test arrangement. The growing number of devices being tested in parallel, and the limited availability of some expensive test equipment resources may become a major cost contributor to, for example, integrated circuit (IC) vendors. The limited availability of certain types of test equipment may be caused by the high capital cost of such test systems or because of the limited availability in terms of the form factor of the test equipment. Test resources which are required for testing a device must either be available per device (with associated high capital costs) or tests requiring these resources are serialized, such that a longer test time may be required and therefore also possibly higher costs as well.